In order to prevent water from intruding into the driving part inside the accommodating space of a fishing reel body and becoming soaked in water and to achieve constantly stable driving performance even in a harsh environment where water may intrude easily, a seal device is provided for the driving part. The use of magnetic seal devices is known. For example, see Japanese Patent Application Gazette No. Heisei 11-276042, (“document 1”) Japanese Patent Application Gazette No. 2012-23695 (“document 2”) and Japanese Utility Model Application Gazette No. Showa 64-55324 (“document 3”), all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties, and which disclose the use of magnetic seals as the seal device.
Document 1 describes a fishing reel that contains a magnetic seal device in order to prevent water from intruding the driving part inside the accommodating space of the fishing reel body to achieve constantly stable driving performance even in a harsh environment where water may intrude easily. Additionally, document 2 describes a technique that prevents the grease used for the shaft bearing from being blended with the magnetic fluid of the magnetic seal device. The fishing reel described in document 2 contains a magnetic driving part which is rotationally driven with the rotation operation of a handle, a one-way clutch which is arranged in the driving part, and a magnetic seal device which is arranged to seal the one-way clutch. The magnetic seal device contains a magnet which is arranged a certain distance from the driving part, a pair of pole plates which clamp and hold the magnet and a magnetic fluid which is retained in a magnetic circuit constituted by the magnet, the pole plates and the driving part. A groove is formed between the magnetic fluid and the one-way clutch in the driving part.
And further, document 3 describes an integral type bearing device which contains the magnetic seal device. The integral type bearing device contains a bearing body having a rotatatory shaft as an inner race, a magnetic seal device sealing a gap around the shaft on at least one side of the bearing body, and a groove being formed on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft between the magnetic seal device and the bearing body. The groove is formed as circulate or spiral.